


Cracks and Splinters

by WellFuckManIdk



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Child Abuse, Depression, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, One Shot, Physical Abuse, Rape/Non-con Elements, Sexual Abuse, This is dark y’all, This was supposed to be a paragraph or two of notes for an AU I’m working on but it turned into this, Trauma, Verbal Abuse, anne is sad, sorta it’s more of a hopeful ending, the other queens are in this au but not this fic, the writing is sorta bad bc it was supposed to be just notes in the beginning, this is set before the au actually starts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:15:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28134534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WellFuckManIdk/pseuds/WellFuckManIdk
Summary: A look at the abuse Anne goes through to get where she is now.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	Cracks and Splinters

**Author's Note:**

> TW: Abuse, Rape/Non-Con, Henry Tudor being Henry Tudor, Depression. More specific TWs in the tags.

Anne’s childhood is pretty good, for the most part. Her parents didn't pay too much attention to her, but she had two other siblings they had to take care of. Not to mention Katherine, Anne's younger cousin who practically lived with them since her dad didn't want to deal with her most days. So Anne understood why. 

It was only when she became a teenager that her home life began splintering. It wasn't too bad at first. A comment about her intelligence here, a snappy reply there. It was small. Ignorable. Damage was being done, sure, but Anne just brushed it off as her not working hard enough. So Anne started spending most of her time either working or studying. Kitty noticed, of course, she always does. Kitty knew that trying to get answers out of Anne would be fruitless, so she just sat with Anne when she would pour hours into school, forcing her to take breaks. 

But her grades improving even past her already-impressive a's and b's did nothing to console her parents. Anne was fourteen when the "bad days" started. Her mother started coming home later sometimes, smelling of alcohol. This made her father very unhappy. And when Anne's father was unhappy, he tended to yell. At everyone. And this was no exception. The smallest slip-up and Anne would have to sit and listen while her father screamed in her face, calling her useless and a burden on him and the household. "Waste of money, waste of space", he'd call her. And Anne tended to slip up a lot. Not on purpose, obviously, but Anne's ADHD made her too clumsy, too loud, too forgetful. And of course, Anne knew that she wasn't the problem here, logically. She knew this was about her father and mother, that she was just an innocent victim who was roped in. But if something is repeated often enough, it tends to stick. And this was a perfect example of that. 

Anne began to hear a tiny voice in the back of her mind, telling her everything she was doing wrong, how she was inconveniencing everyone around her by being the way she is. She started to withdraw from her friends, became quiet and timid. For a while, even Kitty was pushed away. Anne didn't want to bother her poor cousin with her presence. Kat deserved better than her. But Kit was persistent. She didn't let Anne suffer alone. She would sit outside of Anne's room when she locked the door and refused to leave, would tell her cousin she understood and would be here if Anne needed her. When Anne occasionally did let her into her room, she wouldn't push. She would simply sit with Anne and let the older girl play with her hair, something she knew Anne found calming. 

Sometimes Anne's father would drink. Those were the worst nights. When her mother came home late then, Anne knew she was in trouble. You see, Anne's father was an angry drunk. And so he would already be angrier and have worse self-control. Add in Anne's mother blowing her money at bars and pubs on top of that and suddenly Anne was living with a landmine. If Anne did anything wrong those days, not only would her father be screaming at and insulting Anne, he would get violent. He would throw whatever was near him at Anne, punch walls and stomp around. A few times he had even slapped her when she tried to explain herself. Anne didn't speak out as much after that. 

Fifteen-year-old Anne was a shell of her former self. Filled with self-loathing, doubt, fear. She was quieter, shyer, warier. Anne flinched at loud noises, unexpected movements, angry tones. At this point, Kat was the only person Anne would talk to. Kitty was Anne's only friend for quite a while. But then Anne met Henry Tudor. 

Henry seemed nice at first. He wasn't too loud. He flirted with Anne but never got angry when she brushed him off. Eventually, Anne decided that going on a date with him might not be that bad. He was thrilled when she finally said yes. 

They started dating. And it was good for a while. The first few months of their relationship, Henry was sweet and understanding. Sure, he made a few comments that made Anne uncomfortable, and when she pointed that out, he brushed it off as a joke, but that could be ignored. Improved upon with time. They would solve any problems together and be happy, and Anne could finally get away from her house and live with Henry on their own. 

Anne should have known that good things don't last. She shouldn't have gotten her hopes up. It didn't take too long for Henry's true personality to shine through, and he was arguably worse than Anne's father. He started getting louder, pushier. He tried to get Anne in bed with him. When she refused, he got angry. Very angry. He slapped her, before pulling her into his bed anyway. Needless to say, Anne didn't sleep well at all that night. 

It didn't get better after that. Henry threatened her with what he could do to her, or worse, Kat, if she dared leave him. So Anne didn't. She stayed, endured his screaming, his slapping, his forcefulness. And if Anne had to hide bruises and limps some days, that was no one's business except her own. 

The voice in Anne's head had been getting louder since it first appeared, but it was always loudest when Anne was with Henry. It was all she could hear when she was with him, telling her how worthless she was, how she wouldn't have to go through this if she was a good person. And Anne believed it. 

Of course, Kitty tried to help. She always did. But Anne was so broken at that point there wasn't much she could do other than be a shoulder to cry on. Anne didn't tell her cousin about what Henry did. She didn't need to throw her problems on her cousin like that. And so Anne suffered in silence. 

Her father's anger was still ongoing during Henry, too. He was even angrier with Anne, if that was possible, because she was "always out with some boy, slutting it up." Anne tried to tell him the real story, once. Attempted to explain that her boyfriend abused her, raped her. That she didn't want any of this. Her father had slapped her, called her an attention-seeking whore. Anne didn't try to defend herself after that. 

Anne was with Henry for three years. She was going on year four when she met Anna, who was also in her first year of college. Of course, she was very anxious and wary when she opened her door to find a random girl outside her dorm. Kitty was hiding behind the sofa, listening to what was happening. 

One might wonder why Kitty was hiding, and the answer to that was because she wasn't supposed to be here at all. Anne had secretly taken her cousin with her when she moved out, not wanting her cousin to have to deal with what she did. Kitty lived with her. The college had no idea. Anne was lucky she didn't get a two-person dorm. 

But that didn't matter too much now. Right now, Anne was staring at the stranger who had appeared on her doorstep. Anna took a deep breath before holding her hand out. Anne flinched, the woman's hand turning into a fist in her mind's eye, before straightening when she saw it was just a handshake. She didn't take the offered hand, instead staring at the woman in confusion. She had dark skin, and short, black hair. She was wearing a red leather jacket over a black tank top, jeans, and black boots. 

The red-clad visitor dropped her hand after a moment, seemingly not bothered by Anne ignoring it, before she began speaking. 

"You're Anne Boleyn, right?" She asked, and Anne nodded hesitantly, noting her German accent. Anna nodded back before continuing. "I'm Anna Cleves, but you can just call me Anna. I'm here to talk to you about your boyfriend, Henry. Can I come in?" Anne had winced at the name but nodded, letting Anna in. Kitty moved to introduce herself to Anna when she walked in, but Anne caught her eye and shook her head, nodding towards Anne's room. Kitty had understood and left quietly to her and her cousin's shared bedroom, closing the door behind her. 

Anna and Anne sat on the couch, Anne as far away from the other woman as possible. Anne gestured for Cleves to begin, and the German nodded before beginning. 

"Henry's cheating on you." The statement was blunt, and Anne's lip twitched into a smile at the surprise of it, before she frowned again as the words processed. 

"And you know this... how?" Anne asked slowly. 

"Because it was with me," Anna told her, before launching into an explanation. "It was at a party, last weekend. He started flirting with me, and I assumed he was single, y'know? So I was like 'yeah sure, man.' It was whatever, right? So I sleep with him. But then, yesterday, a friend informed me of you, said I had slept with someone who was committed. And I was like, 'oh shit. I need to tell her.' So I asked around and someone knew your dorm number, so I figured I'd tell you in person. And here we are." 

Anne nodded slowly, absorbing the information. "Alright. Thank you for telling me, Anna. I'll... have a chat with him." She wouldn't have a chat with him. That would not end well for her at all. She would do absolutely nothing with this information. 

"Is there anything I can do? To make it up to you, or something?" 

"You really don't need to do that," Anne replied, a little uncomfortable at the thought. "You didn't know, and as soon as you found out you told me." 

"Well, yeah, but I still feel bad. Maybe I can think of something if you give me a bit. Can I have your phone number so I can get back to you on it?" 

Anne was surprised by this, of course. She assumed it was a joke. But when she looked at the woman's eyes, they were filled with sincerity. "Uh, sure?" It sounded more like a question than anything, but Anne still pulled out her phone, Cleves doing the same, and they added each other's number. 

It was later that night that Anne got a text from Anna. I don't have any money or anything rn so I guess I'll have to stick with you for a while until I can buy you dinner. 

That was how Anne had gained her first friend, other than Kat, since she was 14. 

It was a month later when Anna found out Anne was still with Henry. She was hysterical, demanding to know why. And Anne didn't see any way to blow it off, so she told the truth. She told Anna about the threats to her and her cousin. 

The next day Henry was black and blue when he broke things off with Anne. Anne had started crying from pure joy, hurrying home to her dorm, where Anna and Kat were waiting. She fell onto the couch with them, tears streaming down her face and smile on her lips. 

It took a long time for Anne to tell her best friends everything that had happened. Why she would break down if someone yelled at her. Why she was so jumpy. Why she flinched. She cried as she told them the full story, but they held her, told her everything would be okay. Anne let a little flicker of hope bloom in her. 

Anna and Kat worked together to convince Anne to go to therapy. They were the ones who saved up for Pourquoi, Anne's psychological service dog. They convinced the university to let him stay in her dorm with her. 

Things were finally looking up for Anne Boleyn.

**Author's Note:**

> Pourquoi is the name of a dog Anne Boleyn had while married to Henry. I am very upset that I’ve never seen him appear in any SIX fics.
> 
> My Tumblr is @wellfuckmanidk
> 
> I might write more for this AU but I might not.


End file.
